General Question

mirza's avatar

What to do if an eBay seller doesn't communicate with you?

Asked by mirza (5057points) February 13th, 2008

Ok here’s what happened: I won this auction on eBay for a rare cell phone. Before the auction ended, I asked the seller a question and he never replied. But since it looked like such a good deal, i still bid on it. After I won the auction, I contacted the seller again and he still has not replied. I still have not paid him yet. I have a feeling that the seller is a scammer since when I looked him up i found another account with a similar username (the last digit was different) with really negative feedback. So how long should I wait before reporting? Also since I am not paying, can he report me on eBay for not paying? Is there a way to cancel this transaction?

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7 Answers

cwilbur's avatar

The standard (and reasonable) time limit is three days after the close of the auction; if he hasn’t responded to you then, report it to eBay.

Eight's avatar

If he hasn’t invoiced you, you don’t owe anything. Also, ebay recently changed their rule and sellers cannot leave negative feedback for buyers. What was his rating? How many feedbacks?

mirza's avatar

@eight: the rule where eBay sellers cannot leave negative feedback for buyers gets enacted in may 2008. And no he hasn’t sent me any invoice yet.

mirza's avatar

Thanks for the help guys . I ended up waiting 10 minutes to chat with an eBay representative. I explained what happened. It turns out that other people had reported the same thing. So eBay filed a complaint against him and told me that the auction was cancelled and that I would not be held liable to pay for. And luckily, 5 minutes after I spoke with the representative, I found the phone (which also happens to be the best camera phone in the market) I was looking as a Buy It Now. It was a little bit more expensive but from a reliable seller.

artemisdivine's avatar

i love ebay. and i love the new NO NEGATIVES for buyers. cause i am a buyer. and i am always getting messed over. i know all the ebay rules.

one i did not know for the longest time is if a seller puts in a DISPUTE they cannot give you a STRIKE until you answer. so if someone puts in a dispute on feb 1, you have until feb 7 or 8 however they count 7 days) to reply. as soon as you DO reply the seller can give you a strike (only the most miserable sellers do this). but they HAVE to wait for your reply before they do anything. now if you DONT reply they CAN give you a strike and you cannot leave them feedback (and now they cannot leave you a neg – well as of may 2008)

anyone know why ebay enacted the NO NEGS for buyers and that they increased seller fees by 60%? they are hurting big time. too many disillusioned people on there.

Eight's avatar

@artemisdivine. Ebay is shooting themselves in the foot. They’re going after sellers who have online stores, all Buy Now stuff, and abandoning the auction concept as their primary business model. I think they want to compete with Amazon by using their sellers as their suppliers. This totally sucks. I hate the Buy Now sellers. They generally list prices that are a small discount from list price and clog up the pages.

benkreeger's avatar

@Eight: I totally agree. Auctions were what made eBay great. I suppose you could say that they’re reorienting their business model, but I don’t like it. If I wanted a bunch of “buy it now” sellers, I’d go to Amazon.

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